Ideals
by Ginny Perry
Summary: N is displeased with Cheren's lack of empathy for his cause. Allwrongshipping, N/C. Written from a friend's prompt!


"You think I'm a fool, don't you?"

Cheren flinched as he heard a soft voice behind him. He had just set up his camp for the night and was preparing for bed. Turning around, he saw a vaguely familiar figure in the dark, face illuminated by the faint glow of the campfire. He recognized those dull, gray eyes. It was that boy N that he had met in Accumula Town when he was traveling with his childhood friends.

"Umm... hello to you too?" Cheren replied sarcastically. He tried to ignore the uneasy feeling in his gut. Everything about the other boy made him slightly queasy, from his peculiar features to the strange way he spoke.

"I saw the look on your face when we first met. You think I'm foolish." N's vacant expression did not waver.

"Maybe I do," Cheren said as he turned his back on him, bending over and digging through his backpack for his toothbrush. "You should probably get used to it. Most people wouldn't be nice enough not to laugh at someone spouting nonsense about hearing pokemon's voices."

N said nothing.

"Anyway, do you _mind_? It's practically midnight. I'm not really sure why you followed me here just to ask me my opinion of you, but I really need to be getting to bed. It's not very n-"

Cheren's voice was cut short when he felt a hand grab the back of head, and before he could react, he was shoved face-first into the dirt. He felt the frames of his glasses creak against his face as dots clouded his vision.

"What the _hell_ is your problem?!" he yelled, kicking his legs at the body above him. N ground his knee into Cheren's back to keep him secure and the smaller boy yelped in pain.

"I'm _not _stupid," N said into his ear, seemingly unphased by Cheren's incessant squirming. "All you 'trainers' are the same. So selfish and closed off from the truth."

"Why do you care?!" Cheren was enraged now, his anger overpowering the fear he felt moments ago from being in such a vulnerable position. "And it's none of your business what trainers do with their pokemon! I'd never give up on my dreams just because some idiot who thinks he can talk to pokemon tells me it's selfish!"

The younger boy's words were meant to cut deep. He didn't even care if N beat him up for them; as long as he'd finally just leave him alone, Cheren could just go to bed and forget this encounter ever happened.

"It's none of my business?" N repeated softly. A fury sparked deep inside of him, remembering all the pokemon he grew up with. Sweet, innocent creatures mercilessly abused by humans for trivial pursuits of 'strength.' His best friend, Zorua, had been left to die simply because her trainer thought she was too weak to fight. To think the boy beneath him saw nothing wrong with that... to think it was _none of his business_...

Cheren's blood ran cold as the hands returned, gripping tighly on his hair before yanking his head back and smashing it once more against the ground. The blow was harder this time; the left lens of his glasses cracked as his nose began to bleed.

"Get off of me!" he screamed, his words coming out more as a plea than a command. N shifted his weight and pressed down into the back of his head, smothering Cheren against the cold dirt.

"I have seen what you humans are capable of. Aren't you disgusted with yourself, hurting your pokemon just to obtain some silly 'goal'? If my goal was to free your pokemon and the only way of doing that was to kill you, are you saying it would be okay for me to do so?"

Struggling to breathe, Cheren reached back with clawed hands, attempting to scratch any part of the older boy he could reach to free himself. In response, N grabbed one of his arms and twisted it violently behind his back. A muffled hiss met his ears. Cheren turned his neck until he was able to catch a deep breath, his eyes blinded by dirt and shattered lenses.

"What do you want from me? An apology? I'm sorry, okay? Just let go of me!"

Insulted by the other's flippant tone, N jerked on Cheren's twisted arm and heard him scream. Satisfied with the response, he slowly wrenched his limb until he felt the resistance of bone against bone, then a grating crunch. Cheren's body lurched at the sudden horrible rush of agony.

"Stop! _Stop_!" was all he could manage to scream as tears flooded his eyes. The young boy despised showing any emotion other than strict apathy or anger; anything else was drilled into him as weakness. This only made his tears fall faster in a harrowing mixture of pain and humiliation as N still held his dislocated arm in his grasp.

N saw nothing shameful about his tears. N cared little about others' emotions, as they seemed too different from his own for him to care to understand. All he thought about now was the foreign twinge of satisfaction in watching this defiant trainer change his tone. Such a stubborn student required a harsh education. How else was he to learn that his actions were wrong?

"You don't need to apologize to me," N said. "Words are empty. You need to _understand_ why I'm right. You've never been treated poorly, have you? Abused by someone you are attached to? I can tell you haven't, because you wouldn't have such a horrible view of pokemon if that were true. Maybe you need to know what it's like, then."

"I care about my pokemon!" Cheren spat through gritted teeth. "I would never hurt them!"

"Then why are you so keen on battling them just to prove that you're strong? You're just lying to protect yourself. Humans are so predictable."

N let go of Cheren's arm and it fell awkwardly to his side, only to take hold of his other. Tears fell faster down dirtied cheeks as the limb was twisted in a similar fashion to the other one.

"Don't don't don't don't!" he pleaded, kicking his legs frantically. Cheren tried to free his arm from N's grasp, but he was far too weak.

"Don't worry," N said with a genuine smile that the other boy could not see. "I don't want to torture you. I just need to make sure you can't fight back."

With that, he tore the limb from its socket in one quick motion, and Cheren swore he was going to vomit from the excruciating pain that wracked his entire frame.

The younger boy suddenly felt as though he was made of lead. He no longer had sensation in the top half of his body, and his legs barely moved of his own accord. Cheren felt N shifting his position, but could do nothing to stop it. All he could do was sob and curse himself for being so hot-headed and weak. If only he had just went along with what N had said to him. He loved his pokemon. He wasn't selfish for the way he treated them.

...Right?

Cheren did not register that N was pulling his pants down to his knees. He did not register the cold air on his bottom. Right before it happened, his brain did not comprehend what was occuring, even when N held himself against him before moving.

In a way, he was thankful, because there was little time to be terrified. All that he could feel now was a tearing, gruesome pain that wracked him to his core.

Cheren could not hold back his screams and sobs and N was not pleased with the chance of being discovered. He once more wove his fingers through jet black hair and forced the younger boy's face into the ground, holding him down as he thrust into him. Cheren's cries were muffled by earth, and he began choking on it.

"Consider this... a punishment..." N said between deep pants, though the other did not hear him. The older boy did not consider himself a very vengeful person, but when he heard the excuses Cheren gave him, he became like a symbol of all the atrocious trainers N had been raised to despise. His violence was spurred on by all the pent up anger of his youth, all the dreams of revenge for the sake of his pokemon friends.

These confusing feelings had somehow translated to... _this_... but N had little time to dwell on the meanings behind his emotions. He could only accept the fact that he was being lead blindly by them, and had little choice but to follow suit.

The pitiful sounds Cheren made beneath him only urged him to move faster, and before long, the rough friction warmed his blood. N pumped into him without restraint as he pushed the other's face harder against the dirt, relishing the new whimpers he was rewarded with.

Cheren felt himself losing consciousness and fully welcomed it. His shattered glasses dug like daggers into his face and he could not breathe. He almost felt numb to the pain that plagued him, now; only vaguely did he comprehend what has happening as his brain starved for oxygen.

Just as he thought he was going to pass out, the hand on the back of his head released him, and the heavy weight that had been against his body was lifted. Cheren crumpled to the ground like a ragdoll as he lost control of his limbs. All he could do was gasp deeply for breath as his tears continued, the realization of the entire ordeal slowly returning to him.

N said nothing as he composed himself. There was little regret in what he had done; in fact, a soft hum of satiation warmed him, and he could not help but smile. Seeing a trainer that had been so cocky and set in his wrong ideals pathetically splayed on the ground was strangely satisfying. Perhaps now, he will realize the error of his ways.

After Cheren regained part of his senses, he stumbled into his tent and nudged the bag of his pokeballs with his foot. His purrloin appeared from its ball and mewled loudly upon seeing his state. Frantically, she ran up to him and nuzzled his bloodied face.

"Pearl, I'm... sorry..." he whimpered softly. "I hope you forgive me... for forcing you to fight..."

The feline pokemon looked at him with an expression he could not decipher.

Perhaps his ideals were far from the truth...


End file.
